


Romance

by MaiKusakabe



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Explicit Sexual Content, M/M, Mystery, Some Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-21
Updated: 2015-05-07
Packaged: 2018-03-14 09:22:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 19,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3405458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaiKusakabe/pseuds/MaiKusakabe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kid met Law when he was fifteen out of coincidence, and six years later they live together.</p><p>Ace starts to work at the police's homicide department and is assigned as Detective Marco's partner, who has the case of "The Avenger", a serial killer who's been systematically exterminating a criminal organization for the last three years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> First of all, I wrote this story two years ago, back when the manga was still at Punk Hazard. Because of that, there isn't too much information on the Donquixote Family, and many characters introduced later don't appear (had I written it now, Corazon would be in it). Also, this was originally written in Spanish, and was one of the first stories I translated into English. I'm saying this because it could be better written, really.
> 
> The story was beta-read by ff.net user Dearshul.

Eustass Kid ran as fast as he could while trying not to slip on the soaked floor, covering his head with his worn out schoolbag, looking for a place to take shelter from the rain. Usually, in a situation like this, you would look for refuge in a store, but in such a depressed area there was almost nobody brave enough to open a shop, and most of them were places Kid would rather stay clear away from.

Finally, at the end of the alley he saw the desolated neighborhood park, with its empty swings and the huge structure made of plastic and wood that was the slides, with no metal that could attract lightning and, better yet, some completely covered parts where you could hide under. He accelerated his pace and soon entered through the narrow tunnel designed for kids at least a foot shorter than him, and sat crouched against one of the wooden walls.

“Hey, get another hideout.” Said a voice, and Kid then noticed he wasn’t alone; there, in a corner of the structure, also crouched another young man.

He was tall, probably as much as Kid himself, though the redhead still had some years to grow up. The young man had dark and relatively short hair, wore two golden earrings on each earlobe and had deep bags under his eyes. The rolled-up sleeves of his hoodie showed matching tattoos on both forearms, similar to those he had a symbol on the back of his hands. Kid also noticed the letters D E A T H on the fingers also on both his hands.

 _Subtle,_ Kid thought’ mockingly.

“And get all wet? Fuck off. If I’m bothering you, get out of here, dumbass.” Kid answered with his most threatening voice, the one that had the school thugs too afraid to even look at him.

“Would you like it better if I threw you out then?” But this guy not only wasn’t afraid, he was challenging him.

“Go ahead, you scrawny prick.”

They stared at each other, none of them making the first move but both refusing to back off at all.

Then the dark-haired man smirked.

“I like you, brat.”

“Can’t say the same about you,” Kid growled.

“Oh, come on, don’t get mad. I think we could be good friends.” Said the guy, holding out a hand. “Trafalgar Law.”

Kid looked at the hand before him for a moment before, reluctantly, lifting one of his own and taking it. The man was cold, even colder than Kid himself.

“Eustass Kid.”

They let go.

“A pleasure. And what brings you here in this splendid and sunny day?” Law asked, sarcasm dripping from the second part of his sentence.

“Didn’t feel like going home. And you?”

“Let’s say this park has become somewhat of a home to me in these last months.”

Kid stared at him, not sure how to react to that comment. Apart from the rings under his eyes, the guy didn’t fit the traits he was used to see on vagabonds. Sure, he was all wet, but Kid could tell neither he nor his clothes had been all that much dirty before the downpour. And, despite being thin, his arms showed a decent musculature, though it was nowhere near Kid's, and he didn’t seem malnourished.

“Don’t look at me like that. Not all the homeless walk around dirty and underfed.”

“No, I guess not.”

“What’s in there?” Law asked, gesturing to Kid’s soaked bag.

“My fucking textbooks. I don’t get why we have to learn all that shit,” grumbled Kid. He hated his classes, and knew he could never go to college, so it seemed stupid to bother with them. Besides, there were some subjects no one could understand.

“Want some help?” Offered Law and, upon seeing Kid’s sceptical look, his crooked smirk appeared again and he added: “Before my… unfortunate circumstances, I was a rather capable student.”

Kid didn’t doubt it much, pulled on the bag’s zipper and opened the object that contained all of that stupid shit he had to carry with him five days a week.

“Well, at least we’ll pass the time.” He took out one of his most hated books. “How’s your biology?”

“That’s my strong point,” assured Law, still smirking.


	2. The case

_Kid found himself again in the park again several days later after class, even though it wasn’t raining and Killer had offered go grab some pot from a guy he knew. Truth be told, Kid wasn’t much into drugs, they were just as much of a good way to pass the time as anything else._

_“Well, Mr. Eustass, I wasn’t expecting to see you again,” Law greeted, who was sitting on one of the park’s old wooden benches._

_“Disappointed?” Kid asked, approaching him._

_“Not at all, you’re a nice change to my boring and solitary existence.”_

_“If you think I’m being charitable, you’re wrong,” Kid said with a snort, plopping down on the bench next to Law._

_“I wouldn’t even think of it. You have ‘school bully’ written on your forehead.”_

_“Then you have a ‘crazy junkie’.”_

_“I’ve never tried drugs; I’m not interested in them.”_

_Ignoring him, Kid put his biology book on Law’s lap. The man looked at it and lifted an inquisitive eyebrow._

_“You explain well, I even passed that paper you helped me with.”_

_“You want me to tutor you? If you think I’ll be charitable, you’re wrong,” Law said, paraphrasing him._

_Kid laughed._

_“I don’t want ‘tutoring’; I just want you to help me pass this fucking year I have left. In exchange…” Kid searched in his bag and brought out a shopping bag full of various foods he’s bought on his way here. He handed it to Law. “You need this, don’t you? I doubt you have money.”_

_“Not a cent,” Law confirmed, accepting the bag. “Alright, let’s see what can be done with those grades.”_

 

* * *

 

 

Portgas D. Ace would be lying to himself if he said he wasn’t nervous. He’s finished his training in record time, something not at all surprising if you thought about the special training his grandfather had subjected him to since he was a little kid; and now he was there, facing the imposing building that was the city’s central Police Division, ready to start his first day at work.

Taking a deep breath, Ace started walking to the entrance. The glass doors slid open and Ace’s ears filled with the racket of tens of people talking all at the same time, some of them on the building’s reception and others being heard from further inside.

Ace approached the nearest counter, marked with a sign that said ‘reception’, and cleared his throat to attract the attention of the girl sitting on the chair behind it.

“Excuse me…”

“To file a complaint, third door to the left on that hallway,” the girl said without lifting her gaze from the screen.

“No, it’s not that-“

“You’re not here to file a complaint?” interrupted the girl, looking at him.

“No. I’m starting a job here today.”

The girl seemed lost for a moment, and then her eyes opened comically.

“Boss’ Garp’s grandkid!” she exclaimed, standing up hurriedly. “I’m so sorry, Sir! I’ve been so rude. Please, follow me.”

Ace thought the girl looked a bit scared. It wasn’t too strange, especially if his grandfather was here half as much of a nutter as he was at home.

“Thank you…” He looked down the tab on her blouse. “Anna.” Ace followed her down one of the hallways. “You don’t need to be so formal, I assure you I don’t bite.”

She looked at him, insecure.

“Seriously, madness skips two generations in my family,” Ace said, feigning to confide a great secret.

She laughed and, looking visibly relaxed, answered:

 “That’s good to know.” She stopped in front of a glass door. “This is the homicide division, you have to go to the back, the gray door is boss Newgate’s office. He’ll tell you everything you need to know.”

“Okay. Thanks again.” Ace did a short reverence and she laughed again.

“It was nothing. Good luck.”

Luckily, his entrance didn’t get too much attention, besides a couple of turned heads before people went back to whatever they were doing, and Ace could take a good look of his new co-workers. Most of them wore dark suits and Ace felt glad to have put on a white shirt and a jacket with his dark jeans. He saw a brown-haired man styled in a pompadour, dressed in a white suit, that was doing paper planes and throwing them around. Next to him sat a huge and serious man looking reproachfully at his behavior while filing what seemed like an eternal pile of paperwork. Across the room was a blond man whose hair reminded Ace of a pineapple, looking in amusement at the brunette. None of the others stood out to Ace, some of them sitting at their tables and others going from one place to another doing various kinds of things. There were around twenty people in that room.

Ace reached the office’s door and, fighting his nervousness, knocked a couple of times at the door.

“Come in,” came the strong voice from inside.

Ace opened the door, revealing an office that, despite being of a decent size, seemed too small for the huge man who occupied it. Edward Newgate, whom his grandfather had told Ace about, was an aging man that had retired from field work years ago, although he still looked strong under his suit.

“You must be Ace, Garp’s brat. Come in.”

Ace did as he was told and went to close the door, but the man shook his head.

“That’s not necessary, boy. We’ll be done soon.”

 

* * *

 

 

Marco was going through the case files again after Thatch has stopped acting like a three-year-old with the fucking paper planes. It has been over a month since the last murder and they had yet to advance in the investigation, even though the victim list did nothing but grow.

Eighteen. There had been eighteen victims in the past three years, and they weren’t anywhere nearer to catch the murderer than when they found the first corpse.

Heavy footsteps Marco knew very well made him lift his head to see the boss exiting his office accompanied by the boy that had entered moments before. His supposition must have been true and that was Portgas D. Ace, Garp’s grandson and his new partner now that Shanks had left.

“Listen, you bunch of slackers,” the old man called them affectionately, “this boy is Ace; he’s going to work with us from now on. He’ll be Marco’s new partner.” He looked at the boy and then pointed to Marco. “The blonde pineapple-head over there.”

Marco, too accustomed to the jokes about his hair, didn’t react to the comment or the snickers that followed it. Ace, apparently embarrassed, began to approach him, but it took him a while because he was stopped by the whole division welcoming him.

“You’re not as crazy as Garp, are you?” Marco heard Thatch asking.

 

* * *

 

 

It took Ace over fifteen minutes to cross the room and reach Marco, who greeted him with a lot more calmly than most of the others, giving him the impression to be a far more stable person than what Ace had feared he would be. After all, this city’s police department was famous for being somewhat like an asylum.

Ace absentmindedly noticed the plate on the man’s desk, ‘Marco Newgate’, and supposed he was the boss’ son. Ace put up his own plate, given to him along with other things by the old man, on the desk that would be his from now on and moved the chair to sit before Marco, who started to tell him about the case he had right now.

The Avenger.

Ace was surprised to find out the first case he would be working on would be such an important and controversial case as this, a murderer who had the press and the public opinion on his side for targeting the members of a dangerous criminal organization from which not a single member has been ever condemned for anything. Marco simply shrugged and told him it would be good to have a fresh point of view, and then started giving him all the information they had gathered up until now.

Eighteen murders in three years, all of them from the same organization and different levels of importance inside it, assassinated during rainy nights with two shots to the knees and left to bleed to death. No fingerprints, no shells, nothing useful from the bullets and, due to the weather and the places of the murders, no witnesses or security footage.

“At first, we thought that the first two murders were executions inside the gang. It wouldn’t have been the first time, as some years ago they had eliminated one of their own in the same way. But the third body, found less than two months after the second, seemed too much, and we started thinking it could be some other group trying to get rid of the competence and suicidal enough to target them, but that theory didn’t take us anywhere either.” Marco explained to him.

“So we don’t know anything.”

Marco shook his head.

“Nothing at all. Neither do they, or they would’ve tried to stop our investigation by now.”

 

* * *

 

 

Eustass Kid closed the door to his small apartment with a deep sigh. He had had a shitty day and just wanted to forget it as soon as possible. He was somewhat cheered up by the scene he found there: Trafalgar Law, lying stretched across the old sofa in the main room, was flipping through channels with a bored expression.

“Isn’t there anything good?”

“On the contrary, there’s this extremely interesting show, starring a group of stuffed and colorful things with antennas on top of their heads, which love to conceal pornography as child’s love.”

Kid snorted.

“I’m not in the mood for your shit, Trafalgar.”

“Bad day?” the brunette asked, turning off the TV and leaving the remote on the small wooden table.

“A shitty one. I’ve spent two hours dealing with a stupid spoiled brat who wants her car repaired by tomorrow. The idiot crashed into a tree for eating while she was driving. Can you believe that?”

Law smiled amusedly.

“I’ve heard worse. And, speaking of food, I made you dinner.”

“You? You burn even water.” Kid said, feeling astounded that his home was still intact, and went into the kitchen.

There, on the plastic table, rested a plate of instant curry rice, one of those you can prepare in your microwave in matter of minutes.

“That’s what you call ‘make dinner’?”

“You could always prepare it yourself after your shitty day,” Law suggested, approaching from behind.

“I’ll pass.”

Kid strode to the table and gulfed down the rice in record time. Then he went to the bathroom.

“I need a shower.”

“You shouldn’t get wet just after eating; you could have a stomach cramp,” Law warned, a smirk clear in his voice.

“What a problem.”

Kid had undressed while walking, so he turned on the water, as hot as possible, stepping into the shower and standing under the water splash. A body pressed against his back, giving him a lukewarm sensation when combined with the hot water.

“You’re cold,” he said, clasping Law’s hands between his own.

“What a surprise.”


	3. The victims

_“Come with me,” Kid said, standing in front of Law at the park._

_“Where?” Law asked, making little snowmen using the snow that had fallen that morning._

_“To my house. You’ll freeze if you stay here.”_

_“Won’t your father get mad?”_

_Even though Kid didn’t talk much about himself, he’s told some things to Law; ‘enough for the dark-haired man to know that his father was a violent drunkard and a junkie, and that Kid’s mother had died of overdose years ago._

_“He’s just got his pension, he won’t be aware of his surroundings for a few days,” Kid assured, thinking disdainfully of how his father would most likely be sniffing his widower’s pension right now, along with Kid’s own orphan’s pension._

_“In that case…” Law crushed the small snowmen and stood up. “I think I’ll accept your offer, Mr. Eustass.”_

* * *

 

 

A girl ran through the city’s empty streets. It was a dark and rainy night, but that didn’t matter; the only thing in her mind was to run as fast as her legs could carry her, no matter how soaked she was getting, that she’d lost her bag somewhere on the way or the bleeding wound in her leg. She had to get out of there.

She had been too careless to go out that night; although she knew that today was the weather during which the madman liked to go hunt, but she ran out of oil and didn’t think that a walk to the corner shop would be dangerous.

She hadn’t seen him coming, she didn’t know that man, hadn’t seen him before today and that’s why she hadn’t paid him any attention. He was just someone walking on the street. She hadn’t even realized he was following her until she turned around the corner, entering the deserted street where her home was, and heard the first gunshot. The bullet had scratched her right knee and she, used as she was to firearms, had snapped out of the shock and sprang out running. She didn’t try to enter her house, as she knew the man would have shot her down before she could even get the key in the lock, and that’s why she tried to get to the base, hoping there would be someone who could help her.

A gunshot. Two. Almost in a row, and the young woman found herself on the ground before she could even notice the pain coming from her knees. Tears welled in her eyes, and she bit on her lower lip to stop them from falling. With the rain, she would bleed out in a matter of minutes, and she knew it.

“Who are you, you son of a bitch?!” she screamed. She knew nobody would  dare to come out of their homes, since in this neighborhood people hid when they heard shoots and there would be no help, but, at least, she wanted to see her murderer’s face. She wanted to know who he was, who had been chasing them for years. From which gang was that man.

She heard steps over the rain and a pair of shoes appeared before her eyes. With some difficulty, she lifted her head, and felt as if her heart had stopped before it should have. That was not the man from the street, no, but she knew him…

“You?! That’s impossible!” she screamed, desperate. “It’s impossible! How can you be here?!”

“I told you, remember?” he answered calmly, mockingly. Smirking.

And that smirk was the last thing the girl saw before darkness swallowed her, that voice the last thing she heard.

 

* * *

 

 

Portgas D. Ace was woken up by his phone, ringing noisily. He opened his eyes heavily and looked at the hour on the nightstand’s clock before answering the call. 2:45.

“Yeah?”

“There’s been another murder,” came Marco’s voice from the other side of the line.

Ace felt suddenly awake.

“Where?” he asked, getting out of bed.

“In the third district, in an alley next to ‘Franky’s’ pub.”

“That’s a horrible area,” Ace muttered.

“I’ll pick you up in ten minutes.”

“Ok, I’ll be waiting.”

 

* * *

 

 

The place was already secured by police forces when they arrived, and full of people, the coroners, the agents who first got there and a group of curious civilians.

“We got the call half an hour ago; a couple that had left to ‘get a bit of fresh air’ found the body. The coroner says she’s been there three or four hours. Of course, no one has heard or seen anything, even though the girl has three shots in her legs.”

“Who is she?” Marco asked.

They reached the body and Ace felt his stomach churning uncomfortably. There, laying down on her stomach, was a girl of around twenty six or twenty seven years old, with her knees completely shattered, the rain that had fallen until a couple of hours ago mixed with her blood in a pinkish pool around her. Her eyes were open in a terrified expression, her mouth hanging as if she had been talking just before her death, and her hair, long and dyed a strange tone of soft green, covered her to her waist.

“Harpy Monet,” the agent identified her. “She was one of the higher ups in Donquixote Doflamingo’s chain of command.”

“He’s gone for someone important this time,” Marco muttered, crouching down next to her. “Have you found the bullets?”

“Just two. We’re looking for the third.”

“Perhaps the first shot is the one that only scratched her,” Ace observed, trying to control his stomach to crouch next to Marco.

“Probably, he’s done that before. I doubt it’s a coincidence.”

“With whom?” Ace asked, not taking his eyes off the girl’s scared expression.

“Caesar Clown, a scientist who fabricated most of the drugs Doflamingo and his men sell, and Bellamy the Hyena, a petty thug without much relevance in the group.”

“Do you think he knows them?”

“Perhaps. What is clear is that he’s studied them well. The girl lived a couple of streets away from here.”

“You can’t pass, Sir!” they heard an agent yell.

Marco sighed and stood up.

“And the show begins.” Ace heard the blonde say to himself, and decided to stand up as well.

Ignoring the agent and passing the security cord were two men whose faces Ace had memorized from the first moment. Donquixote Doflamingo and his second in command, Vergo, had just arrived in all the extravagance for which the first was known.

Marco walked to them and blocked their advance, impassible even though half the police agents were inconspicuously backing away from them and the whole group of civilians was leaving in an impressive speed.

“You can’t be here, Doflamingo,” Marco said.

Said man looked over the detective’s shoulder and his expression, grim to begin with, darkened even more.

“Monet…”

Ace thought he heard real sadness in his voice.

“Have you discovered anything?” Doflamingo asked, immediately recovering.

“We’ve just started. And you know I wouldn’t tell you even if we had something.”

A huge and deranged smile stretched the lips of the man dressed in pink and bright patterns.

“Of course, detective, I didn’t mean anything like that. You know, you just need to ask if I can help you with anything…”

“I’ll keep it in mind,” Marco answered dryly.

After directing another look to the girl’s corpse, the two men left.

“Donquixote Doflamingo just offered you help?” Ace asked, incredulous.

“He’s been doing that for years, since he realized he wouldn’t be able to find the murderer on his own.”

Ace whistled.

“He’s got to be desperate.”

“He has reasons to be: almost everyone in his organization is dead and it’s been two years since anybody dared to enter it, but there’s still no clue about the culprit.”

 

* * *

 

That morning Kid woke up without the annoying beeping of his alarm clock, or the sun falling over his face like so many other times. He loved weekends, especially weekend days that dawned cloudy.

Kid opened his eyes and found himself face to face with a known pair of gray eyes that looked at him from mere millimeters of distance. Seeing the brightness behind the man, Kid guessed there was sun that morning, but his companion was blocking it.

“Morning,” Kid greeted, his voice hoarse.

“Good morning,” Answered Law, bending down to kiss him on the lips. “Did you sleep well?” The man asked, leaving a trail of kisses on Kid’s cheek and reaching his earlobe, holding it between his lips.

“Yeah, great.” Kid wound his fingers in Law’s hair and pulled, separating them. “Quite.”

“Why? You don’t have to work today,” Law complained, sliding a hand down Kid’s chest, aiming for his crotch. Kid stopped it with one of his hands.

“I’ve told you a thousand times I’m not going to fuck with you, it’d be too fucking weird.”

Law made a face that resembled suspiciously a pout.

“We can kiss but we can’t fuck?”

“Exactly.”

“What about a blowjob?”

“No.”

“Handjob?”

“No.”

“You’re no fun, Mr. Eustass.”

“Get off, I’m hungry,” Kid growled, shoving Law off of him and standing up with some difficulty.

“You’re hard.”

“Fuck you, Trafalgar.”

“I’m trying.” said the man, giving him a huge grin.

“Oh, fuck _off!_ ” Kid yelled, entering the bathroom and slamming the door closed.


	4. The first lead

_Law had been living in Kid’s room for two months already, and everything had been far easier than Kid had expected at first. Kid’s father was unconscious half of the time, and spent almost every waking moment far too intoxicated to notice anything around him, so it was easy to keep Law hidden. The fact that the dark haired man made almost no noise was also helpful. The biggest problem was the money, and to solve that Kid simply had to… confiscate more than what he needed to maintain himself._

_The trickiest part was the last days of the month, when Kid’s father suffered of withdrawal, having spent all his money already. Those days he yelled at Kid for being useless, and demanded his son to start working and ‘bring some money to the home that maintained him’. More than once the man had barged in the room and Law had barely had had time to hide, warned of his approach by the creaking of the stairs._

_Today was one of those days and, when Kid had gone downstairs to grab something for dinner, they had yelled at each other and the only reason they didn’t pass to blows was because Kid threw at him a wallet he’d stolen that afternoon. The man left the house almost running, clutching it in his hands._

_“I assume your father won’t be bothering us for the next couple of days.” Law said from his position perched on the bed when Kid entered the room carrying a tray of junk food._

_“Nah, with some luck it’ll last him until he gets the pensions.”_

_“You really think so?” Law asked, going straight for a pack of chocolate pastries._

_Kid had discovered quite quickly that Law had a weakness for sugar and caffeine._

_“Not a chance, but at least like this he’ll leave me alone for afew days.”_

_“What I don’t understand is why you don’t get rid of him,” Law said, eating one of the pastries._

_Kid stared at Law. That was something he had considered in several occasions, but he could never find a way to do it._

_“If there was a way to do it without getting caught, I would, but I have no intention of spending the next twenty years in jail because of him.”_

_Law seemed thoughtful for a moment._

_“Your father drinks, doesn’t he?”_

_“In the first days of the month. When he begins to run out of money he sticks to cocaine.”_

_“Provoke him an overdose.”_

_“How? The only way I can think of would be to take it with him and encourage him, and that’s something I’m_ not _doing.”_

_“Not necessarily,” Law assured. “You simply have to get higher quality drugs and switch them for his own. I’ve seen what he sniffs, and it’s the worst in the market.”_

_Kid thought about it. That could work._

_“You know where I can get it? You can only find that shit around here.”_

_Law smirked, a twisted smirk that would have sent chills down anybody’s spine. Kid felt slightly uncomfortable._

_“Of course.”_

* * *

Thatch entered the room running, more energetic than his usual self, and skidded to a halt centimeters before crashing into Marco’s desk.

“We have a lead!” the grinning man exclaimed, and both Marco and Ace left what they were doing to look at him, astonished. Thatch kept on talking: “It seems Monet went to a 24/7 before her death, and the security tape shows a guy that seems to follow her, on the street, when she leaves.”

“They gave us the tape so fast?” Ace asked, surprised. According to what he’d learned at the academy, the process to get them took a couple of days, but they had found the body less than twelve hours ago.

“Doflamingo has been threatening the shops for years to cooperate, though nobody says anything that could incriminate him or his people, of course,” Marco explained.

“Well, want to see the video?” Thatch asked, already connecting the room’s projector, where the snowy record showing Harpy Monet entering the shop started to play.

“That guy,” Thatch said, pointing to a dark silhouette on the street.

The figure walked several times up and down the street as if waiting, until the woman exited and then the man went after her. There wasn’t much to see, just that it was a tall man with his head covered by a dark hood.

“It’s not much,” Thatch admitted when the video stopped. “But Monet was a tall girl, and this guy’s at least a head taller than her.”

“So he’s at least 6’2’’,” Marco said. “That shortens the list. Thanks, Thatch.”

“Definitely, it wasn’t Capone,” Thatch joked, referring to a very short man that was in constant conflict with Doflamingo.

* * *

 

One of the biggest inconvenient about Kid’s resolution to not have sexual intercourse with Law, besides the obvious lack of sex, was that Law didn’t accept his refusals, and thus did everything in his powers to try and make him change his mind.

As a result, almost every night Kid had very nice dreams that made him wake up sporting obvious physical sequels.

Today was no exception. Kid woke up from a really nice dream in which Law has been attending his needy cock, his in truth needy cock at that very moment, and, still unable to open his eyes due to the light that filled the room, he decided to get out of bed and take care of his problem in the bathroom.

Only that he couldn’t do it.

The pressure around his wrists and ankles made him stay completely still for a moment, confirming that there was _something_ restraining him to the bed. It was then that he noticed the way too uncomfortable position his arms were in: raised up and _tied to the bed posts_. His legs were spread, kept in position by whatever it was that tied his ankles as well. And he could feel the cool air against the naked skin of his whole body. Kid never slept naked.

Almost growling, Kid forced himself to open his eyes against the annoying morning light, and there, kneeling between his legs and completely naked as well, was Trafalgar Law, smirking down at him with that fucking expression of his and with a prominent erection.

“TRAFALGAR!”

“Good morning to you as well, Mr. Eustass. Did you sleep well?” Law greeted casually without losing his smirk.

“You fucking bastard! What do you think you’re doing?!”

“Having in account there is no way to convince you, I have decided to tie you to bed to be able to have sexual relations once and for all,” Law answered matter-of-factly.

Kid looked around, confirming then, more than tying him, Law had taped his whole forearms to the bedposts and had done something similar with his feet and the end of the bed. He tried to move his arms with all his strength but the tape prevented him.

“Don’t bother, Mr. Eustass, I used a whole roll of tape.”

“Let me go, asshole,” Kid ordered, his voice as threatening as he could make it.

Law, ignoring that command, approached him and inclined over his face, but stopped too far for Kid to bite him.

“If I released you, it would ruin the purpose of all of this, don’t you think?” the man commented distractedly, and Kid gasped when Law’s cold fingers brushed his erection. “Besides, I don’t think you really want me to let you go.”

The fingers grasped his cock and Kid bit the inside of his cheek to hold in a groan.

Law let go and straddled Kid.

“I’d love to go slow and play for a bit, but my patience is over, so we’ll have to leave that for next time.”

And, with no more warning, Law sat on Kid’s erection.

This time Kid groaned, at the same time that Law moaned, when he felt himself engulfed in that tight heat, barely noticing the wetness inside Law, showing he had prepared himself already.

“Oh, fuuuck…” Law moaned. “I should’ve done this years ago.”

Kid bit his tongue to hold a reply, aware he would agree with him, even more when Law started slowly moving his hips, freeing Kid only to take him in again, further every time he thrust down, making both of them moan louder and louder every time. Law inclined again and began to trail kisses and soft bites down Kid’s neck.

Neither of them lasted long. Soon Law’s movements, now followed by Kid’s hips thrusting up, lost their rhythm and turned erratic, and Law came with a loud moan, not even needing to touch himself, and emptied his seed over Kid’s abdomen, followed shortly by the redhead, who spilled his hot essence inside Law.

Law collapsed onto Kid’s chest, panting, with their bodies still connected.

They stayed in silence like that for long minutes and Kid, while trying to recover his breath and feeling Law’s comforting weight, wondered why they hadn’t done this before. His reason, no matter how legitimate and understandable, now paled in comparison to the feeling of being inside Law, of _moving_ inside him. If this was the reward, he was willing to ignore…

“You gonna let me go now?” Kid asked, breaking the silence.

“It depends,” Law answered, not bothering to lift his head, his lips moving against Kid’s neck. “Are you going to attack me?” The seriousness of his words belied by the playful tone in his voice.

Kid grinned widely, even if Law couldn’t see him.

“Not like that, no.” He moved his hips to emphasize his meaning.

Law laughed.

“In that case…”

Without standing up, not breaking their union, Law lifted an arm and took something from the nightstand, the object revealing itself as scissors when the man cut the tape holding one of Kid’s arms up.

“Mind telling me,” started Kid, lowering the freed arm to circle Law’s waist “how did you manage to undress and tie me up without waking me up in the process?”

His other arm freed, Kid held back a complaint when Law carefully separated them to go and free his legs. The only reason he didn’t complain was that soon he’d be back inside Law.

“Remember those sleeping pills the doctor gave you when the neighbors were reforming their flat a couple of months ago?” A foot free. “Let’s say you took a couple of them last night.”

Kid laughed and, as soon as his other foot was free as well, grabbed Law by the arms and, kissing him, turned them around on the bed so he was above Law this time.

“You’re a fucking son of a bitch,” Kid said as soon as they stopped kissing, but there was no anger in his voice. Law simply smirked. “And you are going to pay for this.”

“That’s what I was hoping for, Mr. Eustass.”


	5. An old case

_A week after his conversation with Law, Kid decided to try out the idea the man had given him. Getting the drugs had been relatively easy, though it had been monstrously expensive, far more than what his father consumed. To replace it Kid simply had to wait until his father was asleep. Or, more accurately, passed out._

_The next day, when he woke up, he went to the kitchen to get breakfast as he did every day and then saw him: his father was sprawled on the floor of the messy and dirty room that years ago had been the house’s living room, his limbs twisted in an awkward position, the small table turned over next to him. There was no trace of his characteristic loud snoring._

_Kid approached the man cautiously and checked his pulse. There was no trace of it. He didn’t breathe, either. The man was cold and his arm heavy._

_“Law!” Kid called the dark-haired man, who came immediately out of Kid’s room._

_“I see it’s worked.” Law commented, that enervating smirk of his present._

_“Yeah. Hide, I’m going to call emergencies.”_

_Law shrugged and entered that floor’s hallway, disappearing in one of the house’s empty rooms. After making the call, Kid sat down to wait, aware that it would be a while before someone showed up, as it was usual whenever there was an emergency in that neighborhood._

_He was nervous, and that was a good thing, because he would give the impression that his nervousness was due to the loss of his father. No one would expect him to cry, as few people there did, all of them too embittered to be surprised if someone died, too wary of the world to openly show how they felt._

_The first ones to arrive, almost forty minutes after his call, was an ambulance, and the paramedics certified his father’s death before standing back to wait for the cops, as was always done in cases of overdose. Some minutes later two agents arrived: one of them was a nice-looking redhead who, Kid noticed, was missing an arm, and the other was a blond man who didn’t look completely awake with his half-lidded eyes and whose hairstyle reminded Kid of a walking pineapple. When the both of them arrived, the paramedics wasted no time to get out of there as fast as possible._

_The visit was short. They asked some customary questions about his father’s routine, to know if this situation, minus the minor detail of death, was a common occurrence and they found the drugs, putting them in one of those plastic bags saying that it was standard procedure for those cases. Marco, was the blonde’s name, told Kid that, as a minor, he would pass into social services’ custody and that they would come to collect him, most likely in a couple of hours, and advised him to pack some things._

_Kid sighed, relieved, once the door closed behind the two men. It had gone well._

_“See? There was no problem.” Law said, coming out of wherever it was that he had hid._

_“I didn’t remember the fucking social services.” Kid growled angrily._

_“You could emancipate.” Law suggested, shrugging. The man went to the couch, threw everything on it to the floor and sat down, crossing one leg over the other._

_Kid stared at him for a moment before plopping down on the couch as well._

_“You think I’ll get it?”_

_“Probably. You’re sixteen, the age from which they usually give it. Besides, you have been maintaining yourself for years now, and it’s worked out well for you._

_“If you put it like that…” Kid thought about it for a moment before remembering how one of the men, the blonde, had given him a strange look. “You know, for a moment there it seemed like the blond cop was happy about me.”_

_“It seemed that way, at least from his voice.”_

_“You were listening?”_

_“What do you think?” Law’s smirk grew. “It’s to be happy for you, if you think about it: your junkie father is dead, and as you’re still a minor you will have not one, but two orphan’s pensions, one for each of your parents, until you’re an adult. Looking at you, your muscles and healthy appearance, it’s obvious you’re not an addict, so by losing that bad influence your chances to get out of here and have a decent life have increased considerably._

_“I won a lottery.” Kid said sarcastically, grinning for the first time that day._

_“Go pack your things, the guys from social services won’t be late.”_

_“Right.”_

_Kid stood up, but stopped before leaving the room and turned to look at Law._

_“What will you do now?”_

_Kid had been so centered on his dislike for his father and so eager to get rid of him that he hadn’t remembered Law had nowhere else to go._

_“I’ll manage, don’t worry about that.” Law assured, not losing his smirk._

_While exiting the room, Kid had the feeling that there was something he didn’t know._

 

* * *

“I want good coffee, not that shit you drink.” Law insisted for the millionth time since they entered the supermarket, stopping before the cart before Kid could take it out of the aisle where the coffee was.

The redhead glared at him, to which Law answered with a self sufficient smirk. Angrily, Kid stretched his hand and grabbed a pack of the most ridiculously expensive coffee there was on the shelves, throwing it onto the vegetable bag inside the cart, scaring with it a woman who was there with her two small children.

“Thank you, Mr. Eustass, you’re a darling.”

When Kid gave Law a good look of his middle finger, the woman, completely horrified, hurried up out of the aisle, pushing her children on the back so they would hurry up too.

“You shouldn’t scare people like that.” Law chided mockingly, now sitting on the cart’s edge.

“If you didn’t piss me off I wouldn’t do it.” Kid growled behind gritted teeth, intensifying his murderous glare.

“Oh, don’t be like that, you know I need coffee to function.”

Kid held back a comment of how he’d wish Law stopped functioning for a while, to see if he let him rest of his shit.

 

* * *

 

 

In spite of the video and how it had cheered them up, two weeks later there was still no progress. They had made a list of band members, rivals of Doflamingo’s and had found two men tall enough to pass for the man in the video, but unfortunately they had discarded both of them: one of them, a man called Sakazuki, that belonged to a group proclaiming to defend justice and went around killing as many criminals as they could, had been in jail that night for entering a public building armed; and the other, the leader of another criminal organization named Crocodile, hadn’t even been in the city the night of Monet’s murder.

“Hey, Marco…” Ace called one afternoon, already bored of the paper plane races with Thatch.

“What?” Marco answered distractedly without lifting his head from the case’s files he was revising.

“In my first day you told me that Doflamingo had already killed before someone like our guy does before the murders began.”

“Yes, but we studied that case in depth: it was four years before these murders started and we didn’t find anyone outside the group with enough of a relationship with that boy to do something like this.”

“And inside the group?”

Marco looked away from the files and shook his head.

“Those guys make the executions publicly, if there had been somebody who cared enough about him to be willing to kill all of them in revenge, he would have intervened then and they would’ve killed him too.”

Ace noticed Marco wasn’t looking at him, his attention again centered on the files, and looked really affected by what he was saying, but Ace doubted Marco had known the boy.

“Did you have the case?” Ace asked cautiously.

Marco’s lips stretched in a rueful smile and the man finally looked at Ace.

“It was my first murder. Those bastards protect one another, they even did the boy’s funeral to keep appearances and said a lot of good things about him.”

Ace felt his stomach turning. Killing someone before a huge group, like a spectacle, seemed cruel enough, but to then mock them organizing their funeral…

“Do you have the file?”

“It’s not nice.” Marco warned.

“I don’t care, I want to see it.” Ace insisted. It might be stupid, a case to which they had dedicated many hours already without results, but something told him he needed to see that file, and Ace had learned long ago to follow that sort of feeling, even if he wasn’t cheesy enough to call it ‘instinct’.

“Alright.” Marco agreed, opening his desk’s lower drawer and searching in it. “The boy was found the morning of the first of March, 2006, in a park, lying in a pool of rain fallen the night before mixed with his own blood. He received a beating and then he was shot twice, once in each knee, and left to bleed out without being able to move.”

Marco extended his arm, offering Ace a ridiculously thin file. There couldn’t be much more than the report of the day the body was found and the one from autopsy.

“The rain had erased any useful lead and the members of the group closed the file, saying that everybody liked him, he was a nice guy, everybody was together that night and the boy had left for a date.”

Ace opened the file at a random page, wanting to see the crime scene before looking at the victim himself. He knew that park, it was in the most decayed area in the whole city, where you could find someone selling drugs or weapons at every corner, gangs were a common thing and anybody who appeared to have the slightest bit of money would get a beating while being mugged. Ace’s younger brother, Luffy, went there often with his friends to get into fights.

The boy was lying on his stomach, his knees shattered, in almost the same position they had found Monet and Ace had seen all of the other victims as well: the only thing missing was the terrified look on his face all the other murdered had worn. He was smirking in a way that sent chills down Ace’s spine: it was almost like Death herself was smirking at him.

Ace stopped before looking at the first page, thinking of something.

“Did you consider he could have been the first victim?”

Marco stared at him for a moment.

“It’s not common that a serial killer like this one waits such a long time between murders and then kills someone every few months.”

“But could it be?” Ace insisted, lifting his head to look at Marco.

Marco seemed to think it over for a moment.

“Yes, technically it could be. We always investigated that case thinking the boy had been killed by the Donquixote Family, but if that hadn’t been the case…

Ace smiled. They had something to do at last.

This time he looked at the file’s first page, not being surprised when he saw it was a police record: possession of weapons, several aggressions, extortion… twenty-two years old, male.

The last thing Ace looked at was the photograph, that showed a young man smirking defiantly to the camera while holding the sign with his name: dark hair, gray eyes, two earrings in each ear, sideburns, goatee and dark shadows under his eyes.

Trafalgar Law.


	6. Trafalgar Law

This place is a farce. _Was the first impression that formed in Kid’s mind about the reception center for minors he’d been brought to by the ‘nice’ and ‘understanding’ social services’ guys, who had treated him as if he were a criminal._

_The center’s manager told him dispassionately the place’s rules, warned that any out of place behavior would be severely punished and sent him to one of the empty rooms with orders to come down for dinner at eight._

_Kid had decided, even before opening the bedroom’s door, to follow Law’s advice and ask for emancipation, or he had the risk to become just like the guys he had passed on his way: one of them reeked of alcohol and a girl had a semen stain on her cheek._

_He closed the door, careful to not make any noise lest he attracted attention to himself, and dropped his bag on the floor._

_“This place is even more depressing than your house.”_

_Kid jumped, startled, and turned around to find Trafalgar Law sitting calmly on the room’s old bed._

_“What the fuck are you doing here?!” Kid asked, so loud he was almost yelling._

_“I wanted to make sure everything was fine,” Law answered, smiling placidly while crossing his legs._

_“How did you enter? And how did you know this would be my room?” Kid insisted, forcing himself to keep calm._

_“I’ve been listening,” the man replied, shrugging. “And I took a shortcut.”_

_“What shortcut?” Kid asked suspiciously. He was fairly sure there was only one staircase in this building, and that the hallway where this bedroom was only had access to more rooms and its only exit were the stairs. He had paid attention to it, it was a good thing to know his surroundings._

_Law’s smile grew._

_“Does that matter?”_

_“Yes, it does. You have slipped, I have no idea of how, into my bedroom, which doesn’t even have a fucking window, and if someone finds you you’ll give me a lot of trouble.”_

_“No one will find me, you don’t need to worry about that.”_

_“And how are you so sure about that?” The feeling that something was not right Kid had sometimes around Law appeared again, stronger than ever, and Kid was sure there was something the man wasn’t telling him. He looked at him, even more suspicious than before. “What are you hiding from me?”_

_“I doubt you want to know, Mr. Eustass.”_

_“I’ll be the judge of that. Tell me or get lost.”_

_Without losing that strangely calm smile, Law slowly stood up from the bed._

_“If you insist… But try not to scream, I doubt you want to draw attention here.”_

_“Stop with that shit and tell me,” Kid ordered, glaring at him._

_“I don’t like orders, Mr. Eustass.” That said, Law started to walk decidedly to one of the empty walls and, once he reached it, he crossed through it._

_Kid stood there, completely still and his back practically touching the door, staring at the wall, mouth open and blinking repeatedly while trying to comprehend what has happened just now._

_“You should close your mouth, Mr. Eustass, you’ll catch flies.” Law stopped next to him, coming from behind, from where the wall next to the door was._

_“What the fuck…?” Kid began, but was unable to finish his question, turning to look at Law._

_“What did I just do? Cross through a couple of walls. How could I do it? Because I am dead,” Law spoke calmly, not losing his smile even for a second._

—

Between the cold and the rain, standing up in the middle of the street, even having an umbrella and wearing a coat and gloves, it was rather unpleasant; but waiting was a necessity. It had been almost two months since their last move when Law came back from his nightly watch to tell him that Vergo, Doflamingo’s right hand man, was going out that night to “do some errands”, and so they had started to move.

It was an advantage to have the address of the place Vergo had gone to, and by letting him do whatever he came here for ensured it would take longer for someone to miss him, giving them more time. After all, Vergo was _special_.

The man exited the building, his expression serious and half a cookie stuck to his cheek, and went down the street. Kid didn’t miss the look the man gave him when passing him, and found himself grinning.

“I think he won’t lower his guard,” commented Law, who was almost hugging Kid to stay completely under the umbrella.

Kid looked at him, a question in his eyes that Law read easily.

“I doubt he knows it’s you, I think that he’s suspicious of every person he sees on rainy nights.”

Kid shrugged and took off walking in the same direction Vergo had gone, Law almost pasted to his side. Just before turning the corner that gave into a dark alley without windows on it, Kid took his hand to his coat’s pocket, closing his fingers around the gun there, and prepared to take it out at any given moment.

Upon turning the corner, he could barely avoid the blow directed to his head, which would have effectively crushed his skull. Running a short distance away, Kid dodged Vergo and stopped before him, gun raised and pointing right to the man’s chest.

“So you’re The Avenger,” Vergo said in a rather calm voice given the circumstances.

Kid could see that man being Doflamingo’s right hand, and had no trouble believing all the things Law had told him about Vergo. He wouldn’t even be surprised if the man killed out of boredom.

“For the vengeance part,” Kid answered, giving him a huge and crooked grin. “But I’m not much for the whole justice shit like people think about me.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll see soon enough.”

Vergo lunged at him, probably trying to hit him before he could shoot, but Kid backed away and pulled the trigger, the bullet going straight through the man’s abdomen. Vergo stopped, shocked for an instant before the pain appeared, and Kid took advantage of the moment to shoot him in the knees, making it impossible for the man to stand up. Vergo tumbled to the ground.

“I deviated, sorry,” Kid apologized to Law, watching the blood coming out from Vergo’s stomach.

“Who are you…?” Vergo began to ask, his voice weak, but cut himself abruptly, shocked, his eyes opening widely at what he was seeing.

Law shrugged nonchalantly.

“The result’s the same.”

“L-Law?” Vergo seemed to have recovered enough to speak.

“Hello, Vergo, it’s been a long time,” Law greeted with a smile, as if he had just met an old friend he hadn’t seen in years.

Vergo opened his mouth, as if to say something, but closed it again, apparently unable to find the words. Kid could understand, seeing a man you and your friends had killed more than six years ago must be a real shock.

“I told you I would take my revenge, right? I always keep my promises.”

“You killed them all?” Vergo’s voice was, besides weaker every passing moment, filled with a cold rage far more chilling than hatred.

“Technically speaking, it was Mr. Eustass who killed them, but if what you’re asking is if this is my idea, then yes, it is. And now there’s only one big guy left.”

Vergo’s glasses had broken and fallen to the floor, and so both men standing could see clearly how Vergo glared at Law.

“You can’t kill Doflamingo, he will make your friend pay for what both of you have done and then he’ll kill him.”

“You don’t need to worry about that, I assure you. Everything’s already planned.”

Vergo tried to say something more, but he couldn’t; his breathing accelerated for a moment and then stopped altogether, his head, raised up until them, fell with a resounding thud on the pavement.

Law approached the man, the heels of his shoes and the rain the only sound that could be heard on the alley, and crouched next to Vergo, putting two fingers to the pulse on his neck.

“Dead.”

Kid approached Law and covered him with the umbrella.

“Weren’t you saying you didn’t want to get wet?”

Law lifted his head and looked at him, giving Kid a smile that looked completely out of place in such a scene.

“Right.”

Kid held out a hand and helped him up.

“Let’s go home, I’m fucking cold.”


	7. Ghosts

_Kid dropped the bag next to his feet and looked around, to the run-down space that was the living room of his newly rented flat at the outskirts of his lifelong neighborhood; the paint on the walls was faded, and the old furniture, though it looked comfortable, lacking of any personal touch and waiting to be of any use._

_“Not bad,” Law observed, entering the room and plopping down on the sofa. “It’s comfy,” He added, stretching lazily._

_“I don’t care about your opinion,” Kid said, going to what would be his bedroom from now on to put away his clothes in the wardrobe. It was old and the wood was starting to rot, but it would have to do, at least for a while._

_“I’m offended, Mr. Eustass,” Law said, not even bothering to feign that the comment had affected him._

_“No one’s asked your opinion, translucent squatter,” Kid answered from the bedroom, and Law laughed._

_“I’m quite opaque, thank you.”_

_“When you want to,” Muttered Kid, and would have glared at Law had he been in front of him._

_“That’s true,” Law conceded, appearing next to Kid, who was too used to that by now to react at all and only glared at him. He owed Law that glare, after all._

_“Who don’t you make yourself useful and unpack something?”_

_Law looked at him._

_“I’m going to live here after all, so…” And went to the bed, where Kid’s backpack’s contents were scattered, and took some clothes._

_They worked awhile in silence, putting away Kid’s clothes and then looking around the flat to see what was there and what Kid would have to buy._

_“What will you do now?” Law asked, evaluating the state of some dishes he’s found in one of the kitchen’s cupboards._

_“I’ve thought of studying to be a mechanic,” Kid answered from under the pile, where he was checking the pipes._

_“Sounds good. These dishes seem out of a shooting contest or something, you’ll need new ones.” As if to prove his point, Law threw one of said dishes to the floor, eliciting a yell and a murderous glare from Kid. The only reason the redhead didn’t try to hit him was because Law has taken the habit of turning intangible every time Kid tried to do so, and Kid had had a couple of accidents because of that._

 

* * *

 

 

Law had been in the process of criticizing one of those shows that presented themselves as “about doctors” on television when he heard the front door open and saw Kid entering the flat, looking tired as always but with his a serious air about (‘around’) him.

“Is everything fine?” Law asked, gratefully turning off the TV. He’d been just about to lose his nerves with that thing, and Trafalgar Law thought himself a very patient person.

Kid looked at him, catching Law’s gray eyes with his reddish ones, such gravity on them that told Law something had happened.

“They brought the car for its annual revision.”

They stayed silent, staring at each other before Law said:

“Oh, I see.”

“We have to go shopping,” Kid said, still not moving from the door.

Law stood up, not waiting for Kid to say anything else, and approached him, stopping right in front of Kid and kissing him on the lips.

“We don’t have to do anything if you don’t—“

A hand on the back of his neck and a forceful kiss cut him off.

“Don’t start with that now, I’m not backing off,” Kid muttered against his lips.

Law smiled.

“I didn’t expect you to, but I had to say it.”

 

* * *

 

Ace and Marco went out to get something to eat, putting off the investigation for an hour or so. Not that it was advancing or anything.

They had investigated, with no results, Trafalgar Law, looking for something that pointed to him having been the first victim until a week ago, when they found a new body and had to leave that to investigate this new murder.Vergo, the second in command of Donquixote Doflamingo’s organization, appeared dead in an isolated and nearly God-forsaken alleyway after a rainy night, in an area where the shops didn’t have security cameras. Everything pointed, from the pipe in his hand to the scratches on the floor and a mark on the wall, that Vergo had fought his murderer, but that was not the only difference with the other crimes: unlike the previous victims, Vergo didn’t have a look of terror on his face, but one of anger that made them think the man had argued with his killer before his death, and that strengthened the theory that the mysterious killer knew his victims.

Unfortunately, they still had nothing that gave them any idea of who the said mysterious killer was.

“There’s almost no one left in the organization, couldn’t we put vigilance on them all and wait until one of them is attacked?” Ace suggested once he finished his third hamburger next to the street stand, but he noticed Marco wasn’t paying attention: completely still, ignoring his own food, Marco’s eyes were fixated somewhere on the other side of the street.

Following his gaze, Ace didn’t even notice when the wrapper he had in one hand fell to the floor, trapped as he was by what he was seeing and completely disconcerted by it. At the other side of the street, walking away among the crowd, was a young man on his early twenties, tall and thin, with dark hair, goatee, sideburns, shadows under his eyes and a face Ace had memorized weeks ago.

“Fuck…” Ace muttered, advancing to try and cross the street, but he saw how the man disappeared into the subway with many other people, barely letting Ace notice the man who seemed to accompany him: tall, even taller than his companion, around his twenties as well, muscular and redheaded. Whoever that man was, he seemed to have been arguing with Trafalgar Law.

“Did you see that…?” Ace asked Marco, astonished. That didn’t make sense, he’d _seen_ the pictures of that man, but he was sure it was him.

Marco looked at him, looking even more surprised than before.

“You saw him too?”

Ace nodded, still unable to completely believe what had just happened.

“That was him? But how…?”

“Come with me,” Marco said, leaving his unfinished lunch and taking Ace back to the building, practically dragging him by an arm, disconcerting the young man further.

 

* * *

 

Thatch was finishing his coffee and playing cards on his computer when Marco and Ace burst into the department and went straight to him, startling Thatch into closing the window even though he knew none of them would reprimand him for it. He felt sorry right away, remembering that he had had a very good score.

“Thatch,” Marco spoke, stopping before his desk, and the brunette knew he was going to ask something work-related even before he opened his mouth again. “Do you still have that list of men over 6’2’’ tall?”

Marco was very serious and Ace, Thatch noticed, looked too shocked to pay attention to his surroundings.

“Your thousand-something suspects? Sure.”

“Narrow it to guys around twenty few years, over 6’6’’ and redheaded.”

Thatch looked stupidly at Marco for a moment before realizing they had a new lead.

“Right away.”

He put the new data for the search and saw with satisfaction how the new list loaded and only a name was on it. Now that was precise.

Eustass Kid, twenty one years old, no criminal record, mechanic. Someone who they wouldn’t have suspected of with all the other candidates.

Thatch stood, enthusiastic.

“Let’s arrest him!”

Marco, who didn’t look half as pleased as he should, shook his head.

“We have no proof.”

Thatch looked at him, more disconcerted than before.

“Then how did you find him?”

Marco gestured, first to himself and then to Ace, and Thatch paid more attention to the completely astounded expression the boy wore. He looked at Marco, who nodded with a somewhat sad smile, and understood what he meant.

Of course, they should have expected it from Garp’s grandson.

“That sucks, we’ll need to relate the guy to Doflamingo some other way,” Thatch complained, trying to lighten the mood. Now that they had a name, it would be a matter of time.

Thatch noticed Marco was looking thoughtfully at the screen, where the picture of the grinning redhead looked at them with obvious pride from his driver’s license.

“The thing is, I know this guy.”

That comment snapped Ace out of his disconcerted state and the black haired boy looked at his companion just like Thatch.

“Really?” the younger asked.

“His father died of an overdose some years ago. The boy didn’t look like a junkie or anything of that sort, so I felt a bit happy for him: he seemed to have possibilities.”

Thatch whistled, unable to hide the humor in his voice.

“He’s turned into a model citizen.”

 

* * *

 

Kid sat heavily on the sofa, throwing the small bag he’d just bought next to the remote, on the coffee table, and passed his arms over Law’s shoulders once he sat next to him.

“I hate the subway,” Kid complained.

“You made it clear, but there’s no way to park around there and we couldn’t risk for you to be found.”

Kid snorted.

“I know, I know. What I don’t get is what the fuck a drug dealer is doing selling next to a police precinct.”

Law smirked.

“The last place where someone looks is right in front of their noses.”

Kid returned the smirk with a grin of his own.

“Right.”

They stayed silent, each enjoying just being with the other, and finally Kid asked:

“You got the plans?”

Law nodded distractedly, his head on Kid’s shoulder and his lips brushing against his skin.

“I finished them months ago.”

The arm around Law’s shoulders went down to circle his waist and Kid brought him closer to his body.

“Perfect.”

Law moved to straddle Kid’s legs.

“You don’t have to start right now, we still have a couple of days left,” Law said just before kissing him.

Kid embraced Law’s waist and kissed him back.

Yes, they still had a couple of days left.


	8. The last night

_“There’s something I don’t understand,” Kid said one afternoon after coming back from class, sitting on the living room’s floor with his back against the sofa where Law was sprawled while he changed channels._

_“Not that I’m surprised or anything, but if I can help you…” Law began, earning a punch to the knee from Kid._

_“Shut up, I’m serious.”_

_“Alright, alright.” Law lifted both hands in a gesture of surrender even if Kid couldn’t see it. “What don’t you understand?”_

_“If you can turn solid and touch things, why don’t you take revenge on those who killed you?”_

_It had been months ago, soon after Law told Kid he was dead, that the man had also explained the circumstances surrounding his death. Kid remembered the day of Law’s murder; he hadn’t been at the park or anything, but the story had been at the school’s playground for weeks._

_“Because, as a ‘worker’ from the other side nicely told me after my death, if due to any direct action of mine a human were to die I would be forced to go to the afterlife, regardless of any pending matters I might have in this world.”_

_Kid raised his head and gave him a very skeptical look he’d learned from Law himself._

_“And why do they let you stay in the first place?”_

_Law smirked mockingly._

_“Apparently, dealing with bitter souls such as myself gives them too much work, so they leave us be, unless there’s no other choice. Most souls stay only to make sure their loved ones will be fine before they leave, and those who stay due to some grudge, as they can’t take revenge by themselves, stay here until those they had the grudge against die as well.”_

_“So you’ll stay here until Doflamingo and his guys all kick the bucket,” Kid summed up._

_“Probably, Law confirmed._

_They fell silent, Law kept with his constant change of channels in search of something decent to watch and Kid stayed on the floor, looking at the space where he’d wanted to put a rug for months, thinking._

_“Want me to kill them for you?”_

_Law lowered the arm with which he held the remote and lowered his gaze to look at Kid._

_“What did you say?”_

_“I asked if you want me to kill Doflamingo and his goons, Kid repeated earnestly, moving so he was sitting facing Law._

_“Do you realize what you’re offering?” Law asked, and for once there was no trace of a smirk in his face._

_“Perfectly. You helped me to get rid of that idiot I had for father, which by the way shows you can plan how to kill someone without being discovered, and I’m offering to return the favor.”_

_“You can’t compare a person to a whole organization, Law argued._

_Kid shrugged nonchalantly._

_“If I get at it… Besides, it’s not as if they are going to find me if I’m careful.”_

_Law tilted his head to one side, looking at Kid curiously._

_“What do you mean?”_

_“Isn’t it obvious? I have no tie to them, and met you after you were killed, so they can’t connect us either: Officially I have no reason to kill them, or even hate them, and so I wouldn’t be considered a suspect to begin with. I’d just have to be careful not to leave any evidence and no one will ever know it was me.”_

_Law thought about it._

_“The rain.”_

_“Huh?”_

_“They killed me on a rainy day, and that erased almost all the physical evidence. If they don’t touch you and so there’s nothing left under their nails or something like that, it could work.”_

_Kid grinned._

_“And security systems around here suck, so they’ll be easy to avoid.”_

_Law looked at him for a while, thinking, before he said:_

_“Alright, but before anything else, I want to make sure you know what you’re doing.”_

_“You gonna teach me how to kill?” Kid asked, unable to avoid the playful tone of his voice._

_Law smirked._

_“Contrary to what people might have said about me in the past, Mr. Eustass, I have never killed anybody. No, I’m going to teach you how to cover your tracks. And I’ll take care of any investigation before going after someone.”_

_Kid smirked as well._

_“Then it’s settled.”_

* * *

 

 

“I’ve got something, Ace said from his desk, reading something at (‘on’) his computer. “Eustass Kid works at the workshop where Donquixote Doflamingo takes his car once a year for a check-up.”

Marco lifted his gaze from his own screen.

“That gives him access to Doflamingo, it’d be easy to put him a tracking device or something.”

“And there’s more, Ace continued. “According to these dates, it’s about time for this year’s check-up.”

They stayed silent.

“Doflamingo is the next, right?” Ace asked.

“Probably. He’s not only the last important member, he’s also the last one left from when Trafalgar Law was killed.”

“Not that I really want to help him, but can’t we go arrest Kid or something?”

Marco shook his head.

“That’s not a good idea: we have no proof against Kid, the guy doesn’t even have any traffic fine, and we’d have to let him go. Despite having seen Trafalgar Law’s ghost, we’re not sure if Kid is the murderer, if there is someone else or if it’s Law himself who is killing them. Doflamingo shoots first and asks later, if we arrest Kid we’d be condemning him to death.”

Ace sighed.

“What do we do then?”

Marco went back to his computer and opened the list of the workshop’s employees.

“There’s a guy named Killer with a record of drug dealings some years ago, we can make up something and go take a look. Marco looked through the window, were the street’s lamps were already lighting the dark night of February 28th. “It’s late, we’ll go tomorrow. You should go home, Ace, Marco suggested, standing up himself.

Ace did the same.

“You know, this whole thing about ghosts is so crazy, I would’ve never thought of it.”

Marco laughed.

“You’d be surprised at how many people here can see them,” the blonde said while putting on his coat.

“Is there more people besides you and Thatch?” Ace asked, buttoning up his own coat.

“Oyaji, for example,” Marco answered lightly. He put an arm over Ace’s shoulders and started guiding him to the door.

“The old Whitebeard?”

Marco nodded.

“Sometimes it seems like everyone who can see them becomes a cop.”

 

* * *

 

 

Eustass Kid took off the thick rubber gloves and left them on the table, covering his face with his hands and sighing tiredly. The feeling of hands on his shoulders warned him of Law’s presence at his back, and those hands started to move, slowly and soothingly, over his aching back.

“Tired?” Law asked.

“Yeah. But it’s done.”

The hands stopped for a second before going back to his shoulders, where they indicated for him to turn around. Once they were face to face, Law bent down and gave him a long kiss on the lips, a kiss that for once held no trace of roughness, and both his hands cupped Kid’s cheeks.

“Come to bed,” whispered Law once they separated.

Kid stood up and, not letting Law step away, circled his waist and kissed him again. Law, understanding Kid’s intention, put his arms around the redhead’s neck for support and lifted his legs, circling Kid’s waist with them so Kid could take them both to the bed, not separating their lips for a single moment, not even when Kid slowly lowered Law on the mattress.

Kid’s old shirt and Law’s hoodie disappeared between slow kisses and caresses, movements aiming to memorize and worship instead of craving to dominate and gain control. Soon their pants followed and last went the underwear, Kid having left Law’s mouth just the time necessary to take their clothes off.

Kid’s mouth lowered to Law’s neck when he brought his fingers up to take the place on Law’s mouth, who began to lick them, tracing them with his tongue and covering them on his saliva.

Kid kissed him again once he retired his hand and Law moaned into his mouth when he felt the first finger probing his entrance before pushing in. The second and third fingers didn’t take long to join the first one and, once Kid removed them, he separated from him enough to kneel between Law’s open legs and lift them. Not taking his eyes away from him, from that expression of abandonment on Law’s face, Kid slowly pushed in, relishing in the heat surrounding him and the moans Law let out, until he has finally fully inside of him.

Then, bending down again to kiss him, none of them closing their eyes at any moment, Kid started to thrust steady and deeply, seeking to fill Law and at the same time to extend the moment as much as possible, mimicking those same movements on Law’s erection with one of his hands.

Finally, the sensations became too overwhelming and Law shuddered, and Kid deepened the kiss to prevent him from separating when he came in his hand. Thrusting a couple more times, Kid soon followed Law and this time it was the other man who, fisting both hands on Kid’s hair, prevented him from stopping the kiss.

At last it was Kid who separated first their mouths and, moving so as to not exit from Law, laid on his back on the bed with Law lying atop his body, hugging each other.

For once they didn’t exchange any insults or mocking comments, instead one of Kid’s hands started stroking Law’s back, and the other moving in a slow massage on the dark hair. And Law, tracing distractedly patterns on Kid’s chest, kissed from time to time the redhead’s neck.

“Tomorrow,” Kid finally spoke, “come to work with me.”

Kissing once more his neck, Law settled more comfortably against his body.

“Sure… Kid.”


	9. Eustass Kid

Kid was panting and his heart was beating fast when he closed the flat’s door once he’s entered, resting against the door made of wood and letting himself slide down to the floor. It had been over half an hour already, but he could still feel the adrenaline running through his body as the memory of the moment was replayed continuously in his mind: the man’s incredulity, his anger and finally his fear when he understood what was really happening to him, something very real even though it defied all his scientific convictions. Kid could remember to the last detail the death of Caesar Clown, the first murder of his long list of victims, and hear the man’s voice as if he was right in front of him.

That didn’t make sense, this wasn’t the first time Kid killed someone, he had got rid of his father a couple of years ago, but this seemed a whole different thing. His father’s death had been something impersonal and Kid hadn’t needed to witness it. But he’s shot Caesar Clown and had stayed to watch as he slowly lost blood and how the man, unexpectedly, had been able to see Law once he reached the brink of death. Law had been shocked, but recovered quickly and started to talk as if he’s had planned it all along.

A hand took his chin and made him lift his head, which he’d buried between his knees, and Kid was face to face with his flat mate, who looked at him with worried eyes.

“Are you alright, Mr. Eustass?”

“It’s just the shock, it’ll pass,” Kid assured, resting importance to his state.

Not letting go, Law examined him.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Kid insisted, trying to turn his head, but the man didn’t let go. In normal circumstances Kid was stronger than Law, but it seemed he was too upset right now.

“Then, if you are fine, I guess I won’t be taking advantage of you by doing this.”

Not giving Kid the time to ask what he meant, Law leaned down and kissed him, demanding. Kid didn’t really understand why, but he kissed him back, the kiss turning awkward while they tried to find a rhythm.

When they parted, Law smiled at Kid, satisfied.

“Haven’t you ever been kissed, Mr. Eustass?”

Reacting to those words, Kid shoved Law off, making the man let go of him and fall on his ass.

“What’s that to you? What was that for?”

“I like you, Mr. Eustass,” Law answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and before the redhead could react he was kneeling between his parted legs.

“What the fuck are you doing?!” Kid yelled, when Law began to kiss his neck and one of his hands strayed down to Kid’s cock, inconveniently awake.

“Do you want me to stop? Because it doesn’t seem like it…” Law squeezed Kid’s member over his clothes to emphasize his words and Kid, biting hard on his lower lip, pushed him away again.

“Stop, you idiot, I’m not gonna fuck with you.”

Law blinked rapidly.

“We just kissed.”

“I don’t care, fucking with a ghost would be too weird.”

“But kisses are fine?”

Once again without waiting for an answer, in this case probably a negative one, Law kissed him and Kid, much to his annoyance, answered again.

But he stopped Law’s hand when it tried to reach his crotch again.

—

Eustass Kid didn’t consider himself as a nervous kind of person, in fact he refused to admit he’d ever even felt said emotion in his twenty one years of life, but in this particular occasion he felt as near as he would ever dare to admit to being nervous.

He was at the workshop, dirty working clothes on, getting out from under the hideous pink limousine that was Donquixote Doflamingo’s vehicle, having Trafalgar Law sat on one of the other cars, looking straight at him the whole time; and Killer, unaware the whole morning of the ghost who’d spent the whole morning directing lewd looks and comments to his friend, had just left to get something to eat.

It was a matter of minutes before Donquixote Doflamingo and some unimportant thug, now that he had no one important left, came to pick up the car and, even though Kid knew the man couldn’t see Law and no matter how many times the dark haired man had walked before his old boss making obscene gestures just because he could without Doflamingo knowing, Kid couldn’t help but give Law worried looks every few minutes.

“Oh, please. Will you calm down already?” Law said, tired of the situation.

“Sorry for being worried about going to met with a guy I’m going to kill,” Kid spat, glaring at him.

Law wasn’t bothered and gave him another of those smirks he’d been directing at Kid the whole morning.

“Don’t worry. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

Now Kid smirked as well.

“I’ll get back to you on that.”

“Do you think Mr. Killer would be affected if an invisible mouth was to suck you off in the middle of the workshop?”

“Go fuck your-!” Kid began to yell, but shut up when he saw Law lifting a finger to his lips.

Turning around, Kid saw a car stopping before the opened entrance, and how from the back seat exited Donquixote Doflamingo and some unimportant man dressed, not very originally, in a black suit.

“Hey, Kid!” greeted the man wearing the extravagant pink coat, his lips drawing into that huge and apparently effortless grin Kid knew was only to keep appearances.

“Boss,” Kid greeted as well, calling him in the same way everybody around there, working for the man or not, did.

“How’s it going?”

“Great.” Kid pointed to the car next to himself. “It’s ready.”

It took a great effort for Kid not to glare at Law when the man laughed, no doubt due to the double sense of that statement.

Doflamingo, grin firmly in place, ordered the other man with him to take the limousine out and then spoke to Kid again, repeating an offer he’d been giving ever since the redhead started to work there.

“Are you sure you don’t want to work for me, Kid? A smart guy like you would do really well.”

Kid shrugged.

“I’m fine with how things are now.”

“Oh? Well, if you change your mind you know where to find me…”

Kid didn’t miss the slight warning in those words nor, again, Law’s annoying laughter. Doflamingo was losing his patience, nothing surprising given the circumstances, and was letting him know.

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

—

Killer came back just after Doflamingo had left, and Kid wouldn’t be surprised to discover he’d been waiting for that, as his friend didn’t like the man much.

Kid refused the beer his friend offered him and went to change from his work clothes.

“Hey, Killer.” The blond man looked at him. “I’m sorry it’s so sudden, but I’m quitting the job.”

Killer stared at him, or at least that’s what Kid thought he was doing under his bangs.

“Don’t tell me you’ve accepted that guy’s offer.”

“What?! NO!”

“Then?”

Kid looked away.

“I have something to do, and I’m not sure how it’s going to go or anything, so…”

“What have you gotten yourself into, Kid?” When he saw Kid’s confused expression, Killer added, “You’ve been acting weird for a while, even more these last days.”

Kid still refused to look at him, instead directing his gaze at Law, who passed behind Killer’s back and gave the redhead a little sad smile before going out.

“You’ll know tomorrow.”

Shaking his head, Killer spoke:

“Be careful.”

“Sure.” Kid pointed to a bike that had just arrived that morning. “Can I take it?”

“If you don’t break it,” Killer answered, shrugging his shoulders.

The man tensed when Kid, without warning, walked to him and gave him a one-armed hug.

“Thanks, man.”

Feeling uncomfortable, Kid separated and hurried to grab the keys and start up the engine, getting on the bike and directing a last glance to his friend before exiting.

Outside he stopped to let Law get on and accelerated.

He didn’t even notice the police car they passed on the corner.

—

Arriving at that centric restaurant before Doflamingo’s eccentric vehicle was easy, not only because with the bike they had been able to go faster and avoid most traffic, but because Kid had got the address on his phone the moment it was introduced on the GPS.

They stopped a couple of streets away and, once standing on the sidewalk, Kid took out from his pants’ pocket the small bag he’d bought a couple of days before, from where he took four pills.

“I still don’t agree with this,” Law said for the thousandth time, crossing his arms over his chest.

“It’s not your choice,” Kid answered, swallowing the painkillers with no need of water.

Law sighed, shaking his head.

“Four are fine?” the redhead asked.

“Yes, if you take more you’ll have trouble moving, but like this you will still feel it a lot.”

“It’s better than nothing.”

They walked in silence until they reached the corner previous to the restaurant, where Kid made sure to be out of sight. Then he took two small, plastic objects out and put them in his ears.

Kid looked at Law, who was still looking angry and with his arms crossed. He smiled and opened his arms, inviting him. Though his expression didn’t change, Law approached and hugged him, resting his head under Kid’s chin and pressed as close to him as possible.

Kid didn’t hear the car stopping, nor did he hear the men getting out of it; what he did hear, though drowned by the earplugs, was the deafening sound of the explosion, just as he felt the tremor that shook the street.

Stepping away from Law, Kid took the earplugs out and threw them, glancing at his companion before turning to walk away.

A hand held his wrist.

“Kid, please,” pleaded Law for the last time.

“No, I’m not changing my mind.”

“It’s just few years,” Law insisted. “Nothing will happen.”

“I don’t care.”

Freeing his hand and not looking at Law this time, Kid resumed walking, getting out of the cover the building provided and coming face to face with the devastated street, the burning remnants of the limousine as well as its occupants scattered through the asphalt. The driver must be dead already, but Doflamingo and his bodyguard weren’t. They had prepared it so the car would explode thirty seconds after the engine stopped, so they were already out and the explosion wouldn’t kill Doflamingo. No, the wounds and all the shit they had put into the bomb would take care of that.

It was a luck there had been no one else in that street, for Kid had already ensured the vehicle was in perfect condition to minimize the chances of them stopping before their first destination. It would have sucked if someone else had died due to the explosion.

Kid approached, decided, and stopped right before the tall man dressed in pink, who was panting and bleeding on the floor.

Doflamingo, whose glasses had fallen off, lifted his head, and his eyes opened wide when he recognized the redhead standing in front of him.

“Kid?”

“Surprise,” Kid spat, glaring at him.

Doflamingo managed to laugh.

“You’ve got to be kidding…” And putting his hand inside his coat with some effort, Doflamingo took out the gun from its inner pocket, aiming and shooting just before his hand failed him and he dropped the gun.

—

Eustass Kid swayed, and the only reason he didn’t fall to the floor after the bullet entered his chest, almost hitting his heart, was because Trafalgar Law caught him and lowered him slowly to the floor.

Ignoring Doflamingo’s puzzled exclamation, Law wrapped his arms around Kid and held him, moving the man’s head to rest on his shoulder and lifting a hand to cup his face.

“You’re crazy…” Law whispered, ignoring the knot on his throat and fighting against the tears that insisted to well in his eyes.

“Look… who’s talking…” Kid choked, trying to laugh and weakly circling Law’s waist with an arm.

“Why didn’t you listen to me?” Law said. “What did it matter to wait a few  years?”

Kid tightened his arm around Law.

“To be… bored as fuck I-I’d rather go now…”

“L-Law?” Came Doflamingo’s weak voice, and Kid moved his head to prompt Law to turn.

“C-Come on… You were waiting for this…”

Without letting go of Kid, Law turned his head to look at the blond man lying on the floor near them.

“Hello, _Boss_.”

Doflamingo let go another weak laugh.

“So it was you…”

“I told you.”

The man’s following laughter ended in a coughing fit.

“Right… You did it even as dead… What balls you’ve got.”

Turning to look at Kid again, Law kissed him on the temple.

“Kid?”

“S-Still here…” Kid mumbled right before losing consciousness in Law’s arms, who hugged him tighter and buried his face in the red locks.

“…Your boyfriend?” Doflamingo asked.

“Yes…” In that moment, Law noticed the tears that were falling down his cheeks, but didn’t do anything to stop them.

He had to keep holding Kid.

He was barely aware of the sirens that began to be heard in the background.


	10. The solving of the case

_Eustass Kid lay on the bed, legs and arms outstretched wearing nothing but his shorts and a shirt on. The only reason he allowed Trafalgar Law to use his stomach as a pillow with the horrible heat of that summer afternoon was that, due to some reason that didn’t need much thinking over, the dark haired man was always cold to the touch, and having him there felt nice._

_Then Kid’s hand decided, almost on its own volition, that to lower itself to Law’s head to tangle in his hair was for no other reason than the cool feeling the action provided._

_“Hey, Trafalgar.”_

_“Mh?” Was Law’s lazy answer, who didn’t move from his snuggled position in the bed with Kid as his pillow._

_“When we’re done with all this, and Doflamingo and his men are dead, what will happen then?”_

_“What do you mean?” Law asked, his voice sounding half asleep._

_How the man could sleep in the first place was something Kid didn’t really understand._

_“I mean, what will you do? Will you stay here being a pest as always until I die or what?”_

_Then Law moved, sitting up on the bed and making Kid’s hand to drop where the man’s head had been. Law looked at him, and his face showed no trace of his usual mocking smirk nor the cocky one the redhead had been expecting._

_Kid understood something wasn’t right._

_“Once whatever it is that holds me here disappears, I’ll have to go as well.”_

_“What?” Kid sat up as well, staring at his companion with wide eyes. He was kidding, right?_

_“That’s what I was told.”_

_“But, if there is something else that holds you here?”_

_Law shook his head._

_“No, that’s something they made very clear.”_

_“Then what? Doflamingo dies and you disappear, just like that?” Kid demanded to know, trying to keep as calm as possible, his hands fisting on the bed sheets._

_“Well, I’ll have a couple of days of margin, but yes, that’s what will happen…”_

_Silence fell for a moment until Law, his lips stretching in a smile that didn’t reflect in his eyes, said:_

_“Looks like you’ll be able to get rid of me after all, Mr. Eustass.”_

_Without even thinking, Kid punched Law and shoved him on his back, straddling him._

_“Don’t you fucking dare joke about that!” He yelled, holding him by the wrists. “It’s not fun, you hear?!”_

_The smile disappeared from Law’s face, going back to the previous serious expression he had, and the man, rising up as much as he could in his position, brushed his lips against Kid’s._

_“I’m sorry.”_

* * *

 

 

_They were in the bed, both naked and cuddled under the covers, Kid ignoring the low temperature of Law’s body even though it was a cold winter day._

_That night was raining, and it had been two hours since they came back from killing Vergo in that deserted alleyway._

_“I have decided something.” Kid spoke, his lips almost brushing Law’s forehead by doing so._

_“Are you going to dye your hair green?” Law asked, almost asleep, with his head lying on the pillow and nestled against Kid’s neck._

_“No. I’ll go with you.”_

_Law lifted his head so fast that he hit Kid’s nose. Ignoring his companions’ complaints, he demanded:_

_“Tell me you’re kidding.”_

_With a hand still holding his nose, Kid answered, shaking his head:_

_“No, I’m being serious.”_

_“Are you stupid or something?! Are you going to kill yourself, just like that?!” Law yelled, clenching his hands on the covers._

_“I think you’ve made it clear already. And yes, I am going to ‘kill myself just like that’, as you’ve put it.”_

_“And what about your life?” Law inquired, his voice lowered barely above a whisper, his most intimidating voice and one Kid had heard on very few occasions._

_“I don’t have much of that. Sure, Killer will get mad at me, and probably will kick my ass once we meet again, but apart from him and the workshop, and this sounds cheesy as fuck but I have no other way to say it, you are my life.”_

_Law was left speechless, staring Kid in the eyes, seeing that he was completely serious and hadn’t looked away even for a moment._

_“… It’s still stupid.” Law finally said. “It’s just a few years. And, who knows, you might even meet someone less annoying than me.” He tried to joke._

_Kid snorted._

_“I doubt I could stand someone less annoying than you.” The redhead answered, lifting a hand to the back of Law’s neck to bring him closer._

_“That’s a contradiction, Mr. Eustass.” Law whispered against his lips._

_“I don’t give a shit.” Kid said right before kissing him, shoving Law carefully backwards and making him lay on the bed without parting from him even for a moment._

* * *

 

 

Marco and Ace walked as fast as they could without breaking into a run through the hospital’s hallway, heading for the first of the two rooms the doctor they spoke to had indicated them.

That morning they had gone to the workshop to find out that Eustass Kid had just left, apparently taking the rest of the day off due to “personal matters”, and they learned that Doflamingo’s vehicle had been there for the past couple of days, but had left that same morning as well.

They had barely gotten back to the car when the notification came through the radio informing them of the explosion.

When they arrived there, the place was a mess. The street and the front of the buildings surrounding the area were completely trashed and there was a crowd of scared and curious people trying to discover what had happened.

They were informed that a man had died, the limousine’s driver, and they would try to separate him from the remnants of the car once it was taken to the lab. There had been three people injured, who had been already taken to the hospital: Donquixote Doflamingo and one of his men were in a critical condition as a consequence of the explosion, and a redheaded man, who had been identified as Eustass Kid with his driver’s license, had been shot in the chest.

Next to Doflamingo they’d found a gun that had been fired.

And now, having gone as fast as possible to the hospital once they had all the information, the two men were headed for the room where Doflamingo was. The doctor had told them that, for the time being, he was conscious. The bodyguard had died at the ambulance.

Te blond man was lying on the bed, the covers up to halfway over his chest and dressed in a simple hospital gown, a scene far from the extravagant clothes in which they were used to seeing him. The constant beeping of the machines he was connected to and his breathing were the only sounds inside the room.

That was the first time Marco saw the man without his glasses.

“Hello, detectives.” Doflamingo greeted them as soon as the door opened, with his customary grin stretching over his lips. His voice had far less strength to it than usual.

_“We don’t think he will survive the night.”_

Those had been the doctor’s words when they asked him about the man’s condition.

“Doflamingo.” Marco greeted. Ace did an awkward gesture with his hand, not knowing how to behave in that situation.

“You got the good news already? I’m dying.” Doflamingo said, lifting his arms and extending them dramatically before dropping them back on the bed.

“And that are good news?” Ace asked impulsively. His expression when he said it made it clear he hadn’t been able to hold himself.

Doflamingo laughed.

“You’re Garp’s grandkid, I guess. You’re as impulsive as your grandfather.” He observed. “Of course they are good news, boy: this means you can close all those cases you have opened against me.

“You are too calm for someone facing his last hours of life.” Marco said, looking closely at the man. It was as if he wasn’t affected by the news of his impending demise, or as if he hadn’t been surprised when the doctors told him, something that couldn’t have happened more than half an hour earlier.

Doflamingo laughed again, but his laugher turned into a coughing fit.

When he recovered his breath and the ability to speak, he said:

“Let’s say this experience has proven to be very enlightening to me.”

Marco looked at him, disconcerted, before deciding it didn’t really matter and shrugging it off. If the man wanted to be mysterious to the end, it was his choice, and with that thought in mind he turned around to leave.

“Wait.” Doflamingo called after him.

Marco stopped. Ace, who had his hand already in the door handle, did the same, and they both turned to look at the man.

“You’re going to see that brat, right? Tell him… tell him we’re even.”

Marco evaluated him with his eyes, thinking about what he’d just said and the man’s previous comment. Perhaps…

Now he understood why the man was so calm.

“By brat you mean Kid… or Law?” He asked.

Doflamingo seemed to freeze for a moment, obviously not having expected for Marco to know that, before he began to chuckle.

“You can see him? What a coincidence.” Trying to calm himself and be serious again, he answered the question. “Both of them, I guess. It wouldn’t make sense if it were just one.”

Marco nodded his head and this time both men exited the room, leaving there the last victim of the serial killer who’s been murdering people for years without leaving any trace.

The serial killer who was dying at the end of that same hallway.

_“We had to sedate him and, agents, I doubt he will wake up. You won’t be able to talk to him.”_

That’s what the doctor had said. Marco suspected that, even if they couldn’t talk to Eustass Kid, they might still be able to obtain some answers.

That suspicion proved right when, through the open blinds behind the room’s window, he saw a young man sitting on Eustass Kid’s bed, his back facing the glass and his head slightly bowed to the man next to him.

Marco looked at Ace, and Ace looked at Marco.

Both men nodded and, taking a step forward, the blond man opened the door to the room occupied by Eustass Kid.

Trafalgar Law didn’t pay them any attention, surely thinking they couldn’t see him, and didn’t move either when Ace approached the window and pulled the blinds shut, blocking the entrance to the hallway’s light and giving them some privacy.

Marco took that time to study the scene in front of him.

Eustass Kid was, just like Doflamingo, covered halfway up his chest with the sheet, a hospital gown on and connected to several machines, but his eyes were closed and he seemed irresponsive to the man who, sitting next to him, held his hand tightly without taking his eyes off him.

“He won’t survive this.” Marco spoke in a gentle voice.

Trafalgar Law did a small surprised movement and turned his head, not standing up or letting go of the redhead’s hand, to look at the two men who had entered the room. His expression was surprised, surprise that didn’t cover at all the sadness his face reflected.

“Can you see me?”

It was Ace who answered, nodding his head.

“If the cops are here, I assume you have discovered us, right?”

Ace and Marco looked at each other.

“If you mean Eustass Kid being the serial killer we were looking for, yes, we know.” Ace answered.

Law smiled bitterly and looked at Kid before centering his attention back on them.

“I guess it doesn’t matter anymore. What do you want to know? That’s why you are here, right?”

This time Marco was the one who spoke.

“Why?”

Law laughed, a sound that didn’t hold any traces of humor to it. His lips stretched in a twisted and rather disturbing smile.

“Do you really have to ask that, eh, Marco?”

Marco felt surprised at that, and next to him Ace let go a surprised gasp.

“How do you know my name?” Marco asked, trying to keep calm.

“I remember you, you investigated my murder. I followed you for a while, I had nothing better to do.” Trafalgar explained, shrugging nonchalantly.

That brought a new question to Marco’s mind and, even though he could imagine the answer, he decided to ask it.

“If we had solved your murder, would that have changed anything?”

Trafalgar Law looked him in the eyes and, in the most straightforward way Marco had ever heard, answered:

“No. I promised them I would take my revenge, and that’s what I’ve done.” Then he lowered his head to look at his companion again and whispered: “This wasn’t part of the plan, though.”

“Kid?” Ace asked, unsure.

Law nodded.

“The original plan was for him to stay until the bomb exploded and then leave, but a couple of weeks ago he decided he wanted to come with me and I couldn’t convince him not to. Mr. Eustass is too stubborn for his own good.” He laughed bitterly again. “I think that’s obvious.”

Marco felt uncomfortable, realizing there was something far more deep between those two than what they could see. He was going to say they were leaving when he remembered what Doflamingo had asked him.

“There is something more.” He began. Law lifted his head again. “Before coming here we went to Doflamingo’s room. Congratulations, I think, he’s not going to make it.”

Law smirked, the same twisted smirk he gave them earlier.

“Those are the best news I’ve heard today.”

Marco and Ace looked at each other again, this time feeling definitely uncomfortable, and the younger one said:

“He asked us to pass a message.” Law tilted his head to the side, looking curious. “To both of you, really: he says you’re even now.”

Law’s smirk softened considerably at that.

“Oh, that’s good.”

Law centered his attention back on Kid and the two agents left the room without another word. After all, what were you supposed to tell to the dead guy whose boyfriend, because there was no doubt that’s what they were, was dying?

 

* * *

 

 

Law didn’t pay any mind to the door when it closed, his whole attention was on Kid, who had been sedated since his arrival at the hospital. In the ambulance the redhead had recovered consciousness and, when he saw Law’s face and the track tears that hadn’t completely dried yet, he’d tried to reassure him. As a result, the paramedics thought he was having hallucinations and that’s why they decided to sedate him.

“Shit. You had to go and do this, right?” Law told him, even though he knew Kid couldn’t hear him.

Bending over the man’s body, not releasing his hand, Law put his free hand on Kid’s cheek and kissed his brow. Then he rested his own forehead against the other’s and stayed there looking at him, ignoring the tears that began to gather in his eyes and fall, dripping onto Kid’s face. To anybody who saw the scene, it would seem it was Kid himself who was crying.

“Fucking dumbass. I would have waited for you…”

He stopped feeling Kid’s breathing against his face a fraction of a second before a high-pitched beeping filled the room.

Closing his eyes, Trafalgar Law bit on his lower lip and, tears still falling down his face, kissed the still lips of Eustass Kid.

A hand rested on his shoulder and Law sat up again, turning around and seeing a pale face, lacking eyebrows and with intense red eyes.

“What are you crying for?” Asked Kid, giving him a huge grin. “It’s a bit stupid, don’t you think?”

“You’re dead…” Law whispered.

Kid shrugged.

“Looks that way.”

“You’re dead.”

“I tol-“ A fist colliding with his face cut off whatever Kid was about to say.

“Fucking dumbass!” Law yelled, standing up and letting go of Kid’s body’s hand, that fell heavily on the bed. “Why did you have to do that, you bastard?!” Law lunged at stunned Kid, hitting him again and shoving him against the wall just when the door opened and two nurses entered to disconnect the machinery.

“What the fuck’s your problem?!” Kid yelled, trying to catch Law’s arms and getting a fist to his right eye.

Finally, Kid managed to get a hold of Law’s arms and pinned them to the man’s body, turning them over so he could hold Law’s body against the wall.

The nurses turned, startled, when the catheter next to the bed fell without any apparent reason.

Pinning Law against the wall, and putting a leg between the man’s so he couldn’t kick at him, Kid spoke again.

“Are you calmer now?”

“No, I’m not calmer!” Law yelled again, trying to free himself. “You’re a fucking asshole! Why did you have to go and kill yourself?! Why did you have to kill yourself for me, bastard?!

Without letting him go or saying anything, Kid lowered his head and kissed Law’s cheek, taking with him the tear track there before doing the same on the other side.

“Don’t cry, it’s not like you.” He said, speaking in a gentle manner that erased any coldness those words could have had. “I admit I’m a bastard, and you can hit me if you want, but I won’t apologize. I’m dead, ok, so what? You are dead too. It’s better like this, neither of us will have to spend years alone missing the other.” Kid’s hands let go of Law’s arms. “Because, no matter how annoying you can be, I’d miss you, and I think you would miss me too.”

Law didn’t say anything, and instead glared at Kid’s chest. When he lifted his head, most of the anger had disappeared from his eyes.

“You couldn’t take pills or something, couldn’t you? You had to get a fucking bullet in your chest.

Kid grinned huge and crooked.

“Pills are for cowards, and this was more entertaining.”

“Fucking suicidal bastard.” Law muttered, winding his arms around Kid’s neck and standing on his tiptoes to give him a desperate kiss. Kid wrapped his arms around Law’s waist and pressed him closer, kissing him back.

For once, he’d let Law have the last word.


	11. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the last chapter, thank you for reading :)

The news of the events occurred on the first of March of 2013, spreading throughout the city in a matter of hours. The explosion, Donquixote Doflamingo’s death in the hospital hours later as well as the death of his murderer soon after said explosion due to a gunshot from Doflamingo himself were the main topic of news and conversations for a long time.

At Eustass Kid’s flat was found a letter, written by the man, where he explained how, as a kid, he made a friend in his neighborhood, a boy a few years older than he was that had belonged to Doflamingo’s organization and was killed when he tried to leave it. A boy named Trafalgar Law. The one Kid had wanted to avenge with his murders.

The story had not only turned to be a perfect tragedy about friendship that would be told and retold for years to come as one of the city’s stories, but also had a curious effect on the people.

The many people who had been victim to Doflamingo or his men, as well as the relatives of those who weren't fortunate enough to survive whatever they have done, gathered together and decided to take care of the burial of Eustass Kid, the man who, with his revenge, had avenged them as well. When one of the detectives who had investigated the case, a nice young man named Portgas D. Ace, suggested to bury Kid next to his friend Law, and everybody thought it was a great idea.

And that was how, come the seventh of March, most of the city’s inhabitants assisted to the burial of a young man who, even though few of them had actually met him, had marked all of their lives.

 

* * *

 

 

Portgas D. Ace felt surprised of how many people assisted at Kid’s funeral, many of them bringing flowers to the coffin as well as to the tomb next to it, where Trafalgar Law was buried, that now resembled some sort of strange, colorful plant due to the immense amount of flowers of all shapes and colors surrounding it.

“This has gotten a bit out of control, don’t you think?” Marco asked, walking to him after having spoken to the press to keep them calm.

Ace smiled.

“I think it’s going well.”

Marco shook his head, amused.

“You have some weird ideas.”

Ace simply smiled and didn’t say anything.

The young agent had had the idea at the hospital. It might have sounded crazy, but was something that needed to be done. And so, once the nurses left Eustass Kid’s room after turning off everything, carrying the lifeless body with them to the morgue, Ace entered again.

Just as he thought, the ghosts were still there, and in an uncomfortable situation to walk into, kissing passionately with Trafalgar Law whispering insults to Eustass Kid.

Ace had cleared his throat and, ignoring his own embarrassment and discomfort in such a surrealistic situation, explained his idea.

Both of them liked that, Trafalgar even going as far as saying it was a very “romantic” idea and earning a punch from his companion for it, and they agreed to the plan. And thus, both ghosts had left for Kid’s flat before the police went there and forged the letter that would start everything.

From there on, the plan went smoothly.

“You know, I never thought I would like a pair of murderers.” Ace commented, directing his gaze to a farther part of the graveyard, where stood a tree under which sat a redheaded young man with another, dark haired man lying with his head on the redhead’s lap, both of them watching the funeral.

Trafalgar Law greeted them with a lazy movement of his hand and Eustass Kid nodded his head in their direction.

“Me neither, but I guess, if you ignore they are completely crazy, they’re not that bad.”

Ace chuckled.

Yes, undoubtedly, these past days had been really interesting. Having two ghosts at home, Kid making clear everything he refused to see in his own funeral while Law gave them ideas, each more absurd than the previous ones, had been fun. And Ace and Marco had the chance to talk to them about everything that had happened related to the case.

Looking around again, to the crowd that had assisted the burial and was already leaving, Ace’s eyes fixed on the blond man standing before the freshly digged grave. That had been one of the earnest conversations Ace had had with Kid, where the man told Ace he had left a second letter besides the one they’d forged, a letter for his friend Killer, and had asked Ace to deliver it in person, telling him Killer would most likely have questions after reading it.

Ace wasn’t as surprised as he would have been if he hadn’t known how Kid was when Killer sought him the next day and asked if he really was able to see ghosts. Then he’d given him a message for his deceased friend.

Kid had spent ten minutes straight laughing his ass off when Ace told him Killer had decided to find a way to kill someone who was already dead once they meet again.

“They’re gone.” Marco said, snapping Ace back to the present.

Ace looked back to the tree, where there was no trace left that indicated two people had been there mere moments ago.

Ace had already known they would leave after the funeral.

He should have expected they would do so without saying goodbye.

Shaking his head, Ace looked back at his friend.

“Looks like we’re back to normal.” He said, smiling.

Marco, smiling back, gestured to the graveyard’s entrance.

“Need a ride home?”

 

* * *

 

 

Eustass Kid gritted his teeth, refusing to moan, just like he tightened his hold on the bed’s headboard so hard his knuckles turned white.

Kneeling between the redhead’s parted legs, Trafalgar Law smirked, and moved his fingers in the same way he’d just done, forcing Kid to grit his teeth again to hold back another moan and to pull, once again uselessly, at the chains that tied his wrists to the bed.

“Fucking hell, Trafalgar.” Kid growled, blushing a bright red mix of anger and a product of the situation he was in. “Untie me right now and stop with the fucking games, this shit isn’t fuunnngghhh.” Law’s fingers had moved again as Kid spoke, preventing him from holding his moans this time.

“I think I’ll pass, Mr. Eustass.” The dark haired man answered, grinning smugly. “I quite like this situation, and, besides, you owe me for that shit you pulled.”

At the reminder, Kid quieted. They had argued a lot during those past weeks and even though Law had forgiven him with relative ease, the memory of Kid’s death was something that greatly angered him.

And, well, out of the different ways Law could have chosen to get back at him, this wasn’t as bad as the redhead insisted in making it seem.

Law’s fingers retreated and the man positioned himself between his lover’s legs, directing the tip of his cock to Kid’s opening and stopped for a moment to take in the image before his eyes: Eustass Kid, his arms lifted over his head and tied to the bed, looking challengingly up at him despite the blush in his cheeks, sweaty and gasping, and his erect manhood belying his complaints.

Smiling in a gentler way, Law warned:

“This is going to hurt.”

And, that said, Law thrust forward and sheathed himself inside Kid. The redhead let go a surprised and pained shout at the invasion, and Law bent down over him, trailing kisses up his jaw until reaching his lips.

“Bastard…” Kid bit out, glaring at him.

“It’s not different to our first time.” Law commented, sliding a hand between their bodies to grasp Kid’s unattended erection, who groaned at the contact.

“You weren’t a virgin.” Kid accused.

“I was.” Law contradicted, thrusting forward experimentally.

Kid moaned again, a mix between pain and pleasure.

“What?” The redhead asked, feeling incredulous.

“I said,” Law moved again, “that when I decided to tie you to the bed,” he lowered his lips to Kid’s jaw again, kissing and nibbling on his skin down to his neck,“and impale myself onto your huge cock,” at that point he started to move the hand holding said cock mimicking the rhythm of his hips, “I was a virgin.”

Not bothering to hold his reactions any more, Kid began to move his hips as well, trying to keep up with Law’s rhythm and to make each thrust deeper.

“Oh, fuuuuck.” He groaned. “You’re insane.”

Law laughed against his throat.

“I get that a lot.” Lifting his head, he put his face inches away from Kid’s. “I haven’t heard you complaining.”

A wide and lewd smirk stretched over Kid’s lips.

“Who’s said I want to?” He answered, lifting his head and capturing Law’s mouth in a hungry and passionate kiss that tried to emulate their hips’ movements and, at the same time, expressing feeling neither of them had seen the necessity to put ever into words.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally, this story was going to be MarcoAce as well, but I couldn't fit it in the plot, so instead I left it open at the end, as an indication that it starts soon after the story leaves them.


End file.
